Boeing protest, gay rights in Congress, public-sector job losses

Anti-war protesters on Monday are set to gather outside their favorite target here, Boeing Co. headquarters, to object to the company's plan to make a new combat drone for the U.S. military.

The Anti-War Committee of Chicago says it will bring along some shareholders for Boeing's annual stockholders meeting at the Field Museum to underline the point that thousands of people have been killed in places like Pakistan and Yemen, including hundreds of children. The group also contends in a statement that "U.S. drone pilots are also victims of drone warfare. . . .They experience a rate of (post-traumatic stress disorder) and suicide higher than combat veterans."

The Obama administration, of course, says the drones are a needed part of the war on terror and are preferable to putting U.S. troops in harm's way.

Meanwhile in Washington, just about every Democrat in the Chicago area's House delegation has signed on as a co-sponsor of this year's version of the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA as it's more commonly known, which would make it a federal crime in most instances to fire someone because of their sexual orientation.

The bill has 158 co-sponsors, 60 short of what it would need to pass the House.

And finally, this little tidbit on recent losses of government jobs from Geoff Hewings at the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

So far, of all the jobs Illinois has lost since 2007, the government sector comprises 11.04 per cent. That's fewer than the national figure — 18.28 percent — but higher than in Midwest states such as Indiana (9.41 percent), Michigan (5.98 percent) and, interestingly, Wisconsin (4.94 percent), but less than Ohio's 19.19 percent.